What Does the Bible Say About...Islam?

Why do most of the population of Christians eat pork, yet the Bible states that pork is considered unclean?

Even the Bible states that Jesus prayed with his head on the ground and hands beside head, yet Christians pray facing up and hands together, why is that?

Why do Christians believe Jesus is the son of God? If it was because he was born with no father, why not consider Adam-who was born with NO FATHER NOR MOTHER-as son of God?

Why would Jesus (a.s) want to drink wine knowing it would hurt his body? Do Christians believe in the Muslim prophet Muhammad (s.a.w)? If not, why?

Sorry if I asked too many questions. As a young Muslim girl I am very interested in your religion and why do you believe certain stuff.

Answer

Never be sorry for asking questions. I am happy to answer questions about my beliefs, although it may be a long answer. You may disagree with some of my answers. However, keep in mind that I am answering as a Christian. If I were to ask you to explain your faith you may make statements I would disagree with. I assure you, though, that I will try to respect your beliefs in my answers.

Why do Christians believe in the Bible and not the Qu’ran? There are probably many answers. The reason I believe in one and not the other is that I believe that the Bible is the complete, infallible, and inspired word of God, just as you probably believe about Qu’ran. If I accept the Bible as inspired by God, then any other revelation before or after must be compared to it. That does not say, by itself, that Qu’ran could not be inspired. It just means that the next two points I mention have to compare Qu’ran to the Bible rather than the other way around. If I accept the Bible as complete, then I have to reject any later inspiration, which would include not only Qu’ran but also the Book of Mormon and any “speaking in tongues” and modern revelations of prophecy. (The real difference there is that I believe the revelation ended with the Bible and Muslims believe it ended with Qu’ran.) If I believe that the Bible is infallible, then I must reject anything that can be shown to clearly differ from what the Bible says. The book of Genesis in the Bible tells the story of Abraham and Isaac and Ishmael. This includes the account of Abraham offering Isaac as a sacrifice on the mount that is now the home to the Dome of the Rock. Qu’ran (Sura 37: The Rangers) says, as I read it, that this was Ishmael and not Isaac. The four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) in the Bible say that Jesus died on a cross, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day. That is also affirmed in the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians. Sura 4: The Women says that Jesus did not die on a cross. When there are such differences, and others, then I have to reject Qu’ran because I accept Bible.

One of the most common questions I get is about eating pork. My previous answers about that can be found at What Does the Bible Say About..Eating Pork, What Does the Bible Say About..Eating Pork (2), and The Ten and Me. Some Christians disagree with me, but I argue that the prohibition against eating pork was given specifically to the Jews and never applied to non-Jewish Christians. In general, pork is no more harmful to the body than most other meats if it is properly preserved and prepared. I never have said that anyone has to eat pork. If you choose not to for religious or other reasons I will never insist that you eat it. I just maintain that in Genesis 9:3 God said, “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.” This is the first mention of man being allowed to eat meat, and God allows all meat. It was only under the Law of Moses that he restricted that for the Jews.

When discussing the posture for prayer, I admit that Jesus sometimes prayed with his face to the ground (although the Bible never specifically states that he did so with his hands beside his head). But in some places he also mentions praying in other postures, and does not condemn the practice. In Mark 11:25 Jesus said, “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any.” In Luke 22:41 it says, “And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed.” If Jesus could kneel or stand to pray, then I get the impression that the posture is not as important as what is said in the prayer. Most Christians I know pray sitting or standing with the head bowed and the position of the hands can be together or holding other people’s hands or almost any other position. I also know some Christians who kneel to pray, and some who pray with their heads on the ground under some circumstances. If I were to pray with you (or, more accurately, with your father or brothers if you have any) I would do so with my head to the ground and my hands beside my head because I would respect your/their belief in that as the proper position for prayer.

Why would Jesus drink wine, knowing it would hurt his body? There are some Christians who maintain that Jesus never drank alcohol. They argue that the word translated wine could be either alcoholic or non-alcoholic and there is no indication that he ever drank fermented products. Others would say that he might have had fermented wine. They would point out that the Bible never says that it is wrong to drink alcohol and there is no medical evidence that alcoholic drinks in moderation are bad for the body. The Bible certainly condemns drunkenness, but never specifically condemns drinking alcohol. I personally have never knowingly taken a drink of an alcoholic beverage. I have seen what alcoholism can do to a person. But I have also seen many people who could take one drink without any apparent harm. This has long been a point of argument between some Christians. In recent years it is becoming a major issue in Islam as well, as many Muslims in America and Europe have regrettably acquired the habit of drinking a little or a lot.

When you ask if Christians believe in the Muslim prophet Muhammad (s.a.w), I assume you are meaning to ask if we believe in him as a prophet of God. Certainly I believe that Muhammad existed, but there is a big difference between believing that and believing he was a prophet. I do not believe, and most Christians probably do not believe, that he was a prophet of God. The reasons would generally be the same as those for not believing that Qu’ran is inspired scripture, as stated above.

Now we get to the really tough question. Why do I believe Jesus is the son of God? It has nothing to do with whether he had a father and a mother, for as you say, Adam was also without human parents (as was Eve/Chava). Nevertheless, the virgin birth is one of the fulfilled prophecies that, taken as a whole, lead me to accept that Jesus is the promised Messiah and the son of God. The simplest answer to the question of why I believe he is the son of God is that he said he was (John 9:35; 11:4; etc.). If he was telling the truth, then he was the son of God. If he was not telling the truth, then both Christianity and Islam are false. Christianity would be wrong because it is based on Jesus being the son of God. Islam would be wrong because you acknowledge that Jesus was the last great prophet before Muhammad. Yet if he was lying he could not be a prophet of God, because the measure of a true prophet is whether what he says is true or not.

The Bible tells me that Jesus was the son of God. There are hundreds of prophecies in the Torah (commonly called the Old Testament by Christians) that were fulfilled in Jesus. In the book of Matthew alone, the author repeats 33 times that “this happened that might be fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet.” Most of the prophecies that were fulfilled were not under his control. For instance, Jesus could not control whether his parents went to Egypt when he was a baby, nor where he was buried after he died. The mathematical odds against all these prophecies, most of them accepted by the Jews as prophecies of the Messiah, coming true in one man are incalculable. Of course, that just proves to me that he was Messiah, not necessarily the son of God.

A number of the writers of the New Testament say that Jesus was the son of God. The one that is most insistent is the apostle John. He records a number of miracles in his gospel (the book of John), and then says, “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” (John 20:30-31) He says Jesus proves that he is the son of God by the miracles he performed. At the time of the writing of the New Testament, few people disputed that the miracles happened. John says that proves who he was.

The ultimate miracle recorded in the Bible is that Jesus was crucified, buried, and rose again on the third day, and that he was seen by over 500 people afterward. There were people who knew him that saw him die on the cross, including his own mother. (If, as Qu’ran says, it was not Jesus on the cross, surely his mother would not have endured such agony because she would have recognized that it was not he.) People watched as the Romans put him in the tomb. Numerous people saw him after the resurrection, and were available for cross-examination even decades later. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that this is the good news (gospel). In Romans 1:3-4 he says, “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” Paul, who had persecuted Chrsitians, says that the fact of the resurrection proved that Jesus was the son of God.

That is a brief explanation of why I believe that Jesus was the son of God. That he had the spirit of God as his father is only a small part of it, for as you indicated, Adam (and each of us in a sense) could be called a son of God in a sense because God was his creator. Jesus, according to John 1:3 was already present and helped create Adam. So he is God’s son in a much different way.

I hope that this lengthy reply has given you some answers about what I believe as a Christian, and why. I thank you for the questions. They have made me remember why I believe. Sometimes it becomes such a normal part of my life that I forget to reexamine such things.